Survival of the Fierce
by Z'ia J'onzz
Summary: Rated for later chapters which will contain violence and sexual situations. Probably will up the rating as time goes on. Genre is a cross between Cartoon Network and DCU.
1. Story of Protex

"I am beginning to regret my existence." J'onn muttered as he diminished his density and moved up through the ceiling of the control room. This place is so barren to me, so lonely he thought. The rest of the Justice League sat at a circular table with stainless steel chairs to match. Moving carefully through the walls he went to his quarters. Red gleaming eyes looked about at the black walls. Plain bed covers did not help. White was only one of two colors in the room. It seemed like a prison to him, ever so bleak. Sitting down on a rolling chair at a desk he slumped slightly. Placing his elbows upon his knees he held his head as he sobbed quietly.  
"So what are we going to do? We can't just deny J'onn of his feelings." Hawkgirl calmly said. Meanwhile Plastic man piped into the conversation.  
"But she's one of them!" He formed his body into an outlandishly menacing white Martian. "What if she has him in some form of evil mind control?"  
"Then we keep an eye on her. J'onn trusts her."  
"Makes no difference." Superman said, standing from his seat. "She's our enemy, and until we can prove otherwise, she is to stay in the electrical chamber." After a moment of silence each of the league members nodded to one another. They knew she couldn't be let loose to roam free. She had to be contained.  
"So how do we tell him.gently?" Batman spoke with his normal low tone voice. He had been silent until now.  
"We just tell him. But should he be able to see her at all?" Superman nearly sat down once more but Batman intervened when he stood.  
"We tell him she's to stay sealed but he can visit her-while supervised for his own safety until further notice." Finding his job on the matter complete, Batman went to the nearby elevator and idly waited for any others to join him. Diana, Flash, and Hawkgirl rose up as well and moved into the elevator, Flash mumbling about something that had to do with food. As the door of the elevator sealed, Superman looked to Plastic Man.  
"So it's up to you or me to tell him I guess." Plastic Man said, getting up from his chair as well.  
"I will, I think that we can connect better then anyone else. We have a lot in common." Superman responded before waiting for the elevator to return empty to the control room.  
J'onn had not stopped his weak crying but now he had gotten up from his desk chair and sat upon the foot of the bed he rarely slept in. As Superman lightly knocked on the steel door to J'onn's bedroom, J'onn straightened up, wiped his face as clean as he could before muttering a 'come in' to the shut door. Superman strode in quietly into the dark room without turning on the lights. Sitting next to him he could easily sense J'onn sadness and distress. It was the obvious.  
"We need to talk about her. We've decided as a league to keep her caged with the field in place at all times. We're going to let you see her when you're supervised if you wanted to that--" J'onn cut him off short.  
"You treat her like an animal which she is not." J'onn rose without any further words and reduced his density with ease. Sinking into the floor of his quarters he didn't look Superman in the face. As he entered the holding room of the watchtower, he didn't turn on the lights. Eyes gleaming they showed that he was using other senses to locate the nearly invisible electrical field that separated him from the cell.  
"Z'ia? Are you awake? Z'ia-?" Twin crimson eyes opened from behind the shield, drugged as they appeared. J'onn took a step forward, his voice as soft as possible.  
"Z'ia?" The second pair of gleaming red eyes fully opened, almost as if in surprise. The eyes rose to his shoulder height and slowly came forward what appeared to be only a few steps.  
"Need lights?" J'onn whispered to the fiendish eyes. They could only nod weakly, shutting slightly. J'onn turned and flicked on the fluorescent lights of the room. Turning and looking back to the cage he saw her in her full glory. Behind a fuzzy screen she stood on doubled toed feet, which lead to slender yet ever so impressive legs that were raptor-like. Three fingered, webbed hands were at smooth scaled, slim sides. Her fully white figure stood inches from the shield only a small amount shorter then J'onn's stature. Lined, sunken cheeks stood out amongst her features, bronzed ever so slightly. Raised forehead and flattened nose only further elongated her facial appearance. A spiny back and tail completed her demonic visage. J'onn intently looked at the white Martian for only a few moments. She was heavily sedated and staggered to lean heftily upon the steel cage wall. J'onn smiled softly at her.  
"I've missed you J'onn, after-so many years. To see your face again. I-never thought it would happen."  
"Put yourself at ease, Z'ia." J'onn slowly raised his hand, palm spread towards the white Martian. "If only I could release you." He sighed as his hand dropped to his side. Looking back up he saw her black eyelids had shut as she was flaccidly sitting against the wall in a deadened sleep. That smile did not fade from his lips. He couldn't help it. His childhood comrade was back.  
He was startled though when Superman opened the door to the holding room.  
"J'onn, you should get some rest now. We have that press conference tomorrow." Superman said as he upped the power to the shield and prepared a syringe of more sedative drugs. J'onn gently shook his head as Superman did so.  
"No. She's out cold as is. Her systems cannot take such chemicals and drugs for so long at a constant rate."  
"Doesn't matter. She's a danger to everyone here and on Earth. None of us want to be--"  
"Doesn't matter. Do I not have an opinion here? I know her personally and since we were children living together. She's not like Protex and his armies with Z'ush. She's the creator of those martians. She's a true martian, and she's one that can show more emotions then hate." Tears strung at J'onn's eyelids but he choked them back. Turning away from Superman he looked to the collapsed Z'ia.  
"J'onn I'm sorry. But the rest of us made the decision to keep her confined and sedated at all times. Without it, she could hurt someone like you."  
"And I am beginning not to care what you or the league wants. Superman, I know her better then any of the league."  
"Then explain yourself, J'onn." Superman took a defensive stance, arms crossed across his uniformed chest and feet were at shoulder width apart.  
"Hundreds of years ago when Z'ia and I were both young, the green Martians and true white Martians lived together on Mars in peace. But as the years went on, a bacteria strand that could only be stopped by a genetic mutation-colored flesh, affected the true white Martians. Because of their lack of pigment in their skin, the bacteria killed them by the thousands. Z'ia being one of the stronger ones survived the wave of death and created a cloned copy of her brother. The result was Protex." J'onn had to sit again, he was weary simply of thinking of the horrid years during the bacteria death surge. He moved to a rolling chair located nearby the holding cage. It was also the lack of sleep got was starting to get to him. "After the new white Martians left to colonize their own territory, Z'ia was the last of her species on Mars. But she made them with faults. They couldn't produce their own energy like she can. They needed psychic energy to survive. So they sought her out. She's tens of times more powerful in both mind and body making her a literal feast for them. But she wasn't a match for a horde of them. They took her away from me in the peak of--" J'onn stopped in mid sentence, looking down to the bare floor in front of him.  
"The peak of what J'onn?"  
"It's nothing you could understand." J'onn rubbed his hand against his hairless head, breathing huskily for a moment. "Nothing you or anyone else but her could ever understand."  
"Doesn't seem like that to me. Seems much more simple then that, J'onn. It seems like you care for her." Superman's voice lowered and darkened at the same time. J'onn said nothing, for nothing could help him to deny it. He could just hold his head as he had before when he mourned. Only a muttering from Z'ia's limp form forced Superman to straighten up and lose his defensive stance. It made him twitch to hear her quiet complaint of weariness.  
"I'll watch her for tonight J'onn. No more sedatives least she fully wakes, which will be doubtful." J'onn merely floated up into the ceiling of the retaining room and up two floors into his quarters. Superman sat where J'onn was after picking up something dark and luminous from the computer desk, obviously in grave thought. The steel door opened and the frame of the door had Batman within it like a portrait.  
"I take it that the conversation didn't go very well?" Batman's voice was still that obscure resonance that it always had. This kind of deep, low tone was much easier for Z'ia to detect then any other sound and a black eyelid slid open idly. The sight only lasted for a few moments however, and then she felt a docile sting in her upper arm. Superman stood before the cage, the hand held dart gun still raised at her. As her single lid shut again the image of the syringe stuck in her mind as it stuck to her flesh. A huffing sigh sounded out as her sight was lost and blackness surrounded her fully once more. Superman lowered the dart gun without any emotion. Even Batman's eyes had splayed slightly.  
"No need to watch her now." Superman said, turning away, laying the gun down he left the room and Batman in the doorway of the chamber. Batman watched her for a few more moments before turning and leaving as well, shutting and locking the door too. Those twin red eyes opened slightly after she was certain she was alone again. One of those three-fingered hands gripped the syringe and pulled it free from her smooth, glossy scales. She glared harshly down at the dart before shattering the small glass tube without any glass points digging into her flesh, so tightly knit were her scales. That foot long tongue flicked out and down to lick the droplets of blood from the diminutive wound the syringe had caused. With a quick metabolism, she had been able to absorb the chemicals in the sedative within a few moments of time and regain her full consciousness. Z'ia was also a clever simulate even though she wasn't always proud of such a talent. She wasn't proud now. Sitting up she tucked her bird-like legs beneath her to hunker her torso down as if she were perching shrewdly. She sensed that J'onn was already in a dire sleep. Smiling a pointy toothed smirk she sent gentle images of Mars' landscape that she remembered as a child to his dreams.  
In his quarters, J'onn stirred slightly with the new images in his mind. After some time his movement stopped besides a very light curve on his thin, green lips. Sensing the lack of tension Z'ia, still smiling broadly, her eyelids shut to block out the bright overhead light so she could sleep as well. The only sounds within the holding chamber was the humming of the electrical field and overhead fluorescence along with a shallow wheezing from Z'ia. 


	2. Before M'yri'ah

Loud, blaring men and women shouted their questions as many times as possible. Flying hands and papers could only be seen between camera flashes. J'onn wasn't and furthermore couldn't concentrate on so many things happening at once. He couldn't get the layout of Mars back into his head. A soft sigh reinforced this to the rest of the Justice League. The sound of the reporters softened as Superman took a question from a persistent anchor of the local news.  
"So you caught the leader of the white Martians? Won't they come back for it?" Superman looked to J'onn wearily. J'onn reacted as calmly as he could manage.  
"It is always possible that they will return for their queen. Though it would not be to return to her a homeland of any sort." Again yelling reporters sounded forth. J'onn nodded in the direction of one man that seemed rather quiet about his questions when he was compared to the rest.  
"Okay, umm, let's see here." The man stood, fumbling for words. "You know that she's the queen. How do you know this for a fact?" J'onn did not look to the league members for reassurance or for help on answering the query.  
"I have know her for quite some time. Since we were children on our homelands in fact."  
"So she's like a girlfriend since childhood or something like that?" Another ignorant man exclaimed to J'onn. He now looked to Superman then down to his blue boots. He couldn't think of an answer to explain his feelings, both those of past and now present. Reporters started to scribble down on their notepads after a few short moments of silence from the green Martian and camera men took shot after shot of the shamed J'onn. Hawkgirl couldn't take it anymore. She took J'onn by the arm and lead him away from the press conference and into a small, random hallway. J'onn had tears stinging at his eyes. Hawkgirl frowned slightly, biting her lower lip and took him into a benevolent hug. J'onn began to sob in a hushed tone. "You still care about her, don't you?" Hawkgirl wasn't accusing but gentle, knowing now how sensitive J'onn truly was since Z'ia had been found. J'onn nodded sluggishly, then relinquished himself from her hold. He let his eyes shut lightly, trying to think of how to respond to the reporters once they could no longer be contained. Once he had thought of half of an idea in his mind, reporters spewed out of the small room into the entryway. At first they grouped heavily around J'onn, but the league came to his rescue and literally shielded him from the blatant reporters. By reason of a reporter's stereotypical flightiness, they soon found more important things to draft about as cell phones rang in new topics and issues for them to crack. Within a few instants, the league was alone, and all looking to J'onn. Plastic man was the one who broke the silence.  
"Don't worry J'onny, they can't write down everything that you said." J'onn wasn't amused in the least. He turned away from the league and into the stair well without another word. Only a yielding suspire accompanied his footfalls until he reached the second half of the flight down. He heard the door open as quietly as possible.  
"J'onn?" It was Hawkgirl, ever understanding and reasonable Hawkgirl. He stopped in mid-step, paused, then looked up to her. "Perhaps you should go talk to her. I'm sure that she can give you some advice on the situation." She walked down to him with a sympathetic smile. He gave nothing more then a nod as he looked down to his pointed, unlaced boots. His footsteps sounded out again after a few minutes of thought.  
"They won't let us be alone you know. The league hates her, only because of her appearance. Hawkgirl, I was in love with her before she made the others. Before they took her away from me. Before I even knew M'yri'ah, and I still--" J'onn caught himself and bit his tongue tightly enough to taste blood.  
"You still love her, don't you J'onn? Why don't you just explain to the league about her?"  
"I tried to talk with Superman, but I doubt that he cared about my affection for her."  
"He may just need to realize the love you two have for each other."  
"Had. I hesitate to think that she still has the same feelings as she did a millennia ago."  
"Does she know about M'yri'ah?" The simple question was enough to stop him dead in his tracks.  
"No, she doesn't to my knowledge. If she does, she's doing a very exceptional job at not showing her typical jealous side to any of us." He thought about that response, it came out effortlessly, almost too readily. He turned and continued down the next half of stairs. The softened clicking of his boots were the only things that followed him outside the press building. All that had happened recently clung to him like leeches. Using his power of flight, he gracefully rose up and away from the city of Metropolis. Straight up until his face was wet with the condensation of clouds and tears. Only a green screen of light that suddenly appeared before him halted his trajectory.  
"I'll take you to her J'onn. I haven't seen her and don't know what the fuss is about, but I trust your judgment on this one." John Stewart, better known as Green Lantern, enveloped them both in a translucent, green body cast. When Green Lantern first saw the white visage of Z'ia, he took several steps back into the doorway of the holding room, eyes fully dilated in fear.  
"A w-white Martian? But I thought that we got rid of them all, sent them all back to the Still Zone." Green Lantern gained his confidence back when J'onn leaned his broad shoulder against a metal side of her holding pen.  
"We missed one because she wasn't in the hordes that attacked us. She was a recluse at the time in hiding." J'onn spoke quietly, almost secretively because he knew that Z'ia was weary of humankind. As she rose up to stand fully upright, though slim and sleek scaled, her defined muscles flexed just as powerfully as a male white Martian's would have. J'onn's eyes were locked upon her lithe form. It was only now that he saw her unclothed, something he hadn't even noticed before. Green Lantern saw this too, and lowered his gaze uncomfortably. J'onn could take no more of this treatment towards her.  
J'onn went to the control panel of the pen, eyes looking much like the Joker's might in an insane rage, defused his density and struck the panel with a swipe of his arm. Sparks few as he interfaced the machine's parts and demolished the panel effortlessly. The nearly invisible screen of electricity sparked lightly then vanished, leaving nothing between the white Martian and the outside world.  
Only a bland sigh from J'onn broke the silence that had been present for so long. The three now sat in a tight circle in Green Lantern's quarters in a deep silence once again. Z'ia, wrapped firmly in J'onn's blue cloak, kept her crimson eyes on his green, expansive form.  
"You realize that when your friends return, they will put me back into that cage I was in. You know that, J'onn" J'onn gazed up to her slowly in a calm, expressive manner.  
"I won't let them. Z'ia, you belong where you are now. Outside of a cage for once."  
"And by your side, no?" Z'ia spoke in a whisper up to him, eyes glowing lightly. Green Lantern knew that it meant that they were telepathically connected as J'onn's eyes took on the same brightness. The connection sealed and remained in place for several seconds. As their eyes lost their gentle radiance, John knew that something had clicked between them a long time ago. The feeling of J'onn's new possibilities made him smile-that is until he saw the tears that formed into his Martian eyes. Z'ia let out a hushed huff and stood from the overstuffed chair to kneel beside the chair that J'onn sat in. Green Lantern watched as J'onn's normally sturdy demeanor collapsed into heaving sobs that wrenched his body. Z'ia's glassy-like hands took hold of one of J'onn's, massaging the back of his robust hand. Green Lantern saw the mutual warmth between them.  
"I will not let them care you, Z'ia. You are not an animal. You-you are my--" Z'ia's hand came up to gently hush his voice. John smiled again as he saw the red eyes lock. He continued to watch as Z'ia rose again to lean over and place the front of her forehead against his sculpted temple. He still let his tears fall as if he was safe by being so close to her. John stood up slowly, watching the two alien fervor embrace benevolently. J'onn looked up, drawing away from her touch as little as possible.  
"We can move Green Lantern. You have been more than kind to us by letting us be together without restraint. You-seem to understand us." J'onn stood as well, taking Z'ia close in his puissant arms. What an odd couple John thought, forgetting himself in the fact that he was in the presence of mind readers. To him, it was nothing more then a new friend getting his life together again. Z'ia stepped free from J'onn's arms a moment later.  
"As kind as you have been, I must request a favor from you. Do not tell the league of this meeting. They have just arrived in the docking bay and are worried for J'onn." Z'ia's voice was lowered to a whisper and J'onn nodded in conformity.  
"But J'onn destroyed the chamber, they know they you are out."  
"Yes, but they do not know what you know John Stewart." Z'ia responded, grasping upon J'onn's arm. He led her to the doorway as Green Lantern sat back down idly. As he began to fall into a grave thought trance, he heard something he hadn't before, that of buckling, twisting metal.  
Z'ia's limp body slid down the side of the Javelin 7, groaning as she caught herself in a mid-upright position by grappling her talons into the steel. J'onn had been caught off guard and now joined Z'ia's side, tenderly holding her. Superman stood a few yards away from the two aliens and the rest of the league was behind him.  
"What's the meaning of this?" Green Lantern said as he came upon the scene in shock. Z'ia wiped inky black blood from her lip and nose and spat more upon the steel floor, glaring up to Superman who had a few flecks of the same blood on his knuckles. J'onn protectively clung to her, keeping her from leaping like she normally would to battle, also ensuring that the cloak remained in place upon her form.  
"She's out. Why? I thought that we all agreed th--" J'onn shouted back at Superman in Martian tongue before switching to English.  
"I will never agree to treat her the way Protex did! You are just as corrupt and wicked as he is! You found her half dead and called her a threat." By now J'onn's words were staggering from his great cries that shook both himself and Z'ia. Superman saw then that J'onn was ferociously protecting her. How he held her, how only his cape hid her white flesh, how J'onn's hands were holding her ever so close. He was in love with her, and it was too obvious.  
"J'onn, we all know that a white Martian is a white Martian. There is nothing about her that's different." Superman said, trying to approach the two. J'onn gently pushed her behind him, hiding her from everyone's view.  
"I refuse to give her up to you. Protex took her away from me once, and you are not going to make it a second time." J'onn spoke firmly. He felt Z'ia lean against his broad back lightly. He knew how incredibly weakened she was from the fiasco. Superman seemed shocked as he stood his ground; he gazed back to the passive league. Seeing himself outnumbered in the moral issue, he lowered his stance to look back at J'onn and the little he could see of Z'ia.  
"Why don't we try and discuss this, all together in the meeting chamber? As calmly as possible. Clark-can you handle that?" Hawkgirl stepped out of the close knit group to speak to Superman. Z'ia, still having to rely upon J'onn's gently support, let her form be seen once more, like a young animal seeing the world for the first time-very cautiously. J'onn's eyes never left Superman as he took one arm and moved it around her shoulders. It was a few minutes at least until he reacted.  
"Fine, we'll talk this over orderly and collectively." Superman muttered as he went to the elevator. The league joined him with Z'ia enveloped in J'onn's cloak and arms. 


	3. Piqued Memories

"We have to have a inform idea, or else it will all fall apart." Batman said as he looked between J'onn and Z'ia. Superman sat rigid in his chair, with his arms crossed before him on the table with the JLA insignia on its center.  
"I am not going to willingly let this creature roam freely on Earth." Superman rose and let his weight be supported by the metal table. "Does anyone second the motion?" It remained silent until Plastic Man stretched his head upwards, lengthening his neck only.  
"I would normally side with ya on something like this Sups, but I mean, look at 'em. They're in love." Superman gazed to the two Martians. Plastic Man seemed to be correct. J'onn still had one arm about her bony shoulders. Their red eyes seemed to glare hatefully at him. He stared back crudely before Z'ia turn her head away in submission, looking down and to J'onn feet. Her own two-toed feet had curled up in what seemed to be embarrassment. J'onn saw this action from her and leaned over his chair to look gently into her crimson eyes.  
"I said this in private to you earlier, but now I say it for the league to hear, Z'ia. I will not let them cage you. You belong outside a cage after nearly 1000 years in one with Protex holding the key. You are my childhood companion and you were to be my bound mate until Protex took you. I will not loose you again to anyone else." Superman ever seemed somewhat touched by J'onn spiel to Z'ia. He moved to the couple and placed his hand upon J'onn shoulder.  
"Because of your concern for her, I realize now that she should not be caged, J'onn. But I still think that she could cause trouble on Earth. I suggest that she stay aboard the watchtower until further notice."  
"This I can agree with." J'onn spoke softly and fully embraced her form. "One of the few things I can agree with-" Superman and the league saw the happy, content smile that crossed J'onn's lips, as well as Z'ia's.  
"Wow J'onn. You seem-happy." Hawkgirl smiled when John said that. J'onn naturally released Z'ia from his hold to look up at Superman. He too was smiling upon the newfound couple.  
"It seems like the entire league will have their bound mate before too long." J'onn spoke, looking to Diana and Batman, then Hawkgirl and GL.  
"So it seems, J'onn. Though, not all of us are paired off. I don't think that one should flaunt this happiness while others cannot have the same joy." Z'ia spoke from the heart that her brethren do not have. "Shall we retire for the rest of the day? My core needs to be renewed, and sooner then later."  
"Core? What do you mean by that?" Green Lantern looked to the now standing white Martian.  
"My core acts much like your ring does. For it grants me my strengths. Though I can live much like an average human can without a charged core, I find eating to be a nuisance." The league watched as a green and white webbed hand intertwined as J'onn led her out of the room and towards his quarters through the wall of the watchtower.  
"Well that was interesting." Flash said making sure that the couple was out of hearing range. "I mean, I know he's happy and all, but I just don't see what he sees in her is all."  
"She's different in more ways then one, Flash. She's not even the same species as the warriors that we fought." Superman retorted idly not just to Flash, but the whole league as well. "But it doesn't mean that we trust her as for yet. She could still be dangerous to Earth and its inhabitants. We must still keep an eye on her at all times possible."  
"What is it J'onn always would say? I concur?" Flash, as quick as he may be, responded rather slowly. The league parted ways and went to each one's own business-except for Superman that is. His mind reeled at the thought of what she could do J'onn and vice versa. He had to see what was going on behind the walls of J'onn's bedroom. As he neared the room he stopped and used his power of x-ray vision. His eyes widened slightly at the sight he saw.  
There was the normal, ever-burning meditation candle that J'onn kept lit in a corner at all times. In his bed Z'ia lay alone, curled in a full fetal position in a deep sleep. Her long, spiny tail was flopped over one side of the bed and would twitch every few seconds. J'onn rose from his desk chair and moved across the room to her side. He gently lifted her tail up and was cautious with it as he examined the barbed, ashen white tip. After a soft smile passed, he curled her tail about her, continuing the fetal position she was in. Seeing that she was comfortable and fast asleep, he gazed up in the general direction of Superman. Knowing that he had been found he simply entered the room, his vision going back to normal to see J'onn still grinning happily.  
"She's like an infant when she sleeps. And just as defenseless too." J'onn said quietly, returning to his chair. "You know, she trusts that the league will protect her. Afterall, that's a job that I cannot do alone anymore."  
"Protect her? From who, and why?" Superman seemed shocked at that statement, why would such a creature need protection?  
"Protex and his minions. She can sense that they are growing stronger by the minute in the Phantom Zone, though their numbers are not increasing. She fears that they will find a way out, and find her. She is their queen and their life source. Without her, they all will die. With her close by and safe, it grants them strength-and a second generation." J'onn paused, looking to her. His voice lowered considerably. "That is not their job to accomplish." He paused once ore and shifted only his gaze up to Superman. "Clark-I love her. Knowing that M'yri'ah is gone forever makes me miserable to the marrow. I am happy with her. She-makes me whole again." Super took in his gaze then looked to the sleeping white Martian and sighed softly.  
"The league will grant her security as long as we can. This is only because of the compassion you have for her, J'onn." Superman, knowing he had corrected a mistake on his behalf, went to the door. Before leaving however, her turned back to smile at J'onn but he wasn't in the chair anymore. He was at Z'ia's side, covering her over with a few sheets. After giving a light touch to her temple-which had to be some sort of tradition- J'onn sat beside her, simply watching her sleep. Clark knew now what J'onn missed most about his life on Mars-love from another.  
As J'onn laid down beside Z'ia he thought deeply about the last few weeks. Defeating Protex, finding Z'ia and the love that they had so many decades ago. Looking to her balled up form he realize that she still depended on him for not just physical support, but emotional support as well.  
"The league thinks that she is an all powerful white Martian like Protex. No, they are wrong. She's no stronger then myself and with more weaknesses. She still needs me." J'onn whispered to himself in the dim light of his candle as he gently laid a hand upon her lower rib cage that seemed to jut abnormally from her body. She was too thin, she always was. She never had a good meal besides when she was with J'onn and his family. He tried to explain to himself why he still cared for her now. He had lost her once to marry only a short year and a half later. He sired a family without a thought of her and had completely forgotten her when he reached Earth. Why now did it seem like she had never left his side?  
Still further he wondered about what had happened to her while he was absent from her own side. He easily became tempted with divulging in her memories. He couldn't resist the thoughts after a few more moments and linked his mind with her own in a telepathic connection.  
At first, there were only broken images in her mind. The surface was scratched and marred it seemed but J'onn drove himself in deeper. Pushing through he found himself in nothing but darkness. The little light that was present show her white hide blackened with her own slick blood. The next image was all too familiar. Protex before her, makeshift club in hand. He already knew what came next. More images that are random fluttered by, Now on to childhood. Seeing her family in tatters from the disease epidemic. Running or flying away from it all, desperate to get away. Blackness again flooded his mind. Then he saw himself a young child, his hand being held out to himself. A thin white hand came into view, grasping his own. He remembered this, when he found the small unconscious white Martian and wanted to help. Years melted onward and now he saw himself as a young man, holding Z'ia at her brother's fresh grave. Her family was completely gone that day, and only J'onn was there to help her bury them. Both of them cried that day. The scene dissolved into the night before she was taken from him. Soft kisses and laughter were a complete opposite of the last memory. He remembered this as well, while kissing at her throat she had tensed up, and now he knew why. He had always thought it was something he did to make her uncomfortable, but now the outline of Protex with his infamous club raised proved this theory wrong. Again, there was blackness, only this time someone was pushing out with the blackness of her mind.  
As his vision returned to the present he found himself face-to-face with Z'ia herself. Although she was embraced him, her grip was tight enough to make it unpleasant. His lips parted to speak, but he could say nothing. He knew that he was in the wrong.  
"Where you went is a dangerous place, J'onn. Please do not go there again" Z'ia's voice was weak, yet her point was clear-she simply did not want him to see her pain that she kept within her. He went to speak again but her hand came up to hush him gently. "Just sleep, J'onn. I have a feeling that you will need it." Her gaunt hand moved up to gently touch his temple, letting a small bit of her body heat escape to his mind. The touch was customary among green Martians and was one of the millions of things J'onn had taught her when they were young.  
J'onn again watched her curl up, crossing her arms over her chest and then drawing up her knees. Her tail followed the pattern of her fetal position and drew up between her legs and over one shoulder. If it had not been for her size and such, she could have been easily seen as a timid child, and in J'onn's eyes she was just that tender.  
Resting his head fully upon the pillow he heard her nightly wheezing begin, and, in searching his own mind for memories, he remembered that she often compressed her lungs while sleeping. One hand gently gripped her shoulder and turned her to face his body so that he could easily caress her side. In a ticklish response, she jerked about and her fetal position uncurled rapidly. Her face buried into J'onn's upper side as he smirked down to her. She was just like she was when they slept next to one another as children.  
He sensed her mind quiet down with the passing of sleep and let sleep do the same to his own mind. His dreams were of her memories though they seemed to loop upon those with Protex in them. Then in the middle of one sequence he saw himself with her, holding her as she wept. Only he could stop her tears, and he did in his dream. In the reality world, Z'ia smiled up to J'onn's relaxed face and nestled against him, glad to stop his nightmares while she could. 


End file.
